Chương 2. Chấm dứt giáo vụ (Điều 184-196)

§1 An ecclesiastical office is lost on the expiry of a predetermined time; on reaching the age limit defined by law; by resignation; by transfer; by removal; by deprivation.
§2 An ecclesiastical office is not lost on the expiry, in whatever way, of the authority of the one by whom it was conferred, unless the law provides otherwise.
§3 The loss of an office, once it has taken effect, is to be notified as soon as possible to those who have any right in regard to the provision of the office.

The title ‘emeritus’ may be conferred on one who loses office by reason of age, or of resignation which has been accepted.

Loss of office by reason of the expiry of a predetermined time or of reaching the age limit, has effect only from the moment that this is communicated in writing by the competent authority.

Anyone who is capable of personal responsibility can resign from an ecclesiastical office for a just reason.

A resignation which is made as a result of grave fear unjustly inflicted, or of deceit, or of substantial error, or of simony, is invalid by virtue of the law itself.

§1 For a resignation to be valid, whether it requires acceptance or not, it must be made to the authority which is competent to provide for the office in question, and it must be made either in writing, or orally before two witnesses.
§2 The authority is not to accept a resignation which is not based on a just and proportionate reason.
§3 A resignation which requires acceptance has no force unless it is accepted within three months. One which does not require acceptance takes effect when the person resigning communicates it in accordance with the law. [The m.p. Learn to take your leave, 12.II.2018, art. 5, abrogates the three-month term in the case of renunciation for reasons of age of the titles of some offices of pontifical appointment (cf. can. 401)]
§4 Until a resignation takes effect, it can be revoked by the person resigning. Once it has taken effect, it cannot be revoked, but the person who resigned can obtain the office on the basis of another title.

§1 A transfer can be made only by the person who has the right to provide both for the office which is lost and at the same time for the office which is being conferred.
§2 A grave reason is required if a transfer is made against the will of the holder of an office and, always without prejudice to the right to present reasons against the transfer, the procedure prescribed by law is to be observed.
§3 For a transfer to have effect, it must be notified in writing.

§1 In the process of transfer, the first office is vacated by the taking of canonical possession of the other office, unless the law or the competent authority has prescribed otherwise.
§2 The person transferred receives the remuneration attached to the previous office until the moment of obtaining canonical possession of the other office.

One is removed from office either by a decree of the competent authority lawfully issued, observing of course the rights possibly acquired from a contract, or by virtue of the law in accordance with can. 194.

§1 No one may be removed from an office which is conferred on a person for an indeterminate time, except for grave reasons and in accordance with the procedure defined by law.
§2 This also applies to the removal from office before time of a person on whom an office is conferred for a determinate time, without prejudice to can. 624
§3.
§3 When in accordance with the provisions of law an office is conferred upon someone at the prudent discretion of the competent authority, that person may, upon the judgement of the same authority, be removed from the office for a just reason.
§4 For a decree of removal to be effective, it must be notified in writing.

§1 The following are removed from ecclesiastical office by virtue of the law itself:1° one who has lost the clerical state;2° one who has publicly defected from the Catholic faith or from communion with the Church;3° a cleric who has attempted marriage, even a civil one.
§2 The removal mentioned in nn. 2 and 3 can be insisted upon only if it is established by a declaration of the competent authority.

If by a decree of the competent authority, and not by the law itself, someone is removed from an office on which that person’s livelihood depends, the same authority is to ensure that the person’s livelihood is secure for an appropriate time, unless this has been provided for in some other way.

§1 Deprivation of office, that is, as a punishment for an offence, may be effected only in accordance with the law.
§2 Deprivation takes effect in accordance with the provisions of the canons concerning penal law.